How the Animorphs Stole Christmas
by Forlay
Summary: An Animorph has a very strange dream.


#  How the Animorphs Stole Christmas!

##  By: Forlay

"Welcome Christmas bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos, far and near. Christmas day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to pass. Christmas day will always be, as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart, hand in hand."   
What'cha watching, Ax-man? >   
Ax turned his stalk eyes I have just finished watching a movie on TV. >   
Cool. What? >   
A Christmas Special. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". >   
Oh, sorry I missed it. That was one of my favorite movies. >   
It was enjoyable, but I am at a loss to understand who or what this Grinch is, who the Whos are, and why the Grinch was convinced he could steal a holiday away from a people. And just who is Santy Claus? >   
Tobias laughed. It's just a story, Ax. Neither the Grinch, nor the Whos are real. They're characters made up by Dr. Suess. Santy Claus is Santa Claus and he's just a children's story. You get a lot of those around Christmas. >   
Ah. I understand now. It was still enjoyable none the less. The songs are very catchy. 'You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!' >   
Yeah, that's a good song. Listen, I'm gonna go see Rachel, then go to sleep. You probably should too, otherwise Santa Claus won't come. > He laughed.   
But you just said he was a story. >   
It was a joke, Ax. Santa isn't coming, just chill and I'll see you tomorrow. >   
Ax shivered a bit from the cold. Earth got much colder in the winter than his home. He pulled the blankets Cassie had given him tighter around himself. I believe I shall have no problem 'chilling', Tobias. >   
Yeah, Ax. 'Night. > He flew off, beating his wings furiously against the cold, dead air.   
Ax picked up his remote and began flipping through channels on the TV, looking for more Christmas Specials, which were fast becoming favorite programs of his. Of course, they were nothing compared to These Messages, but then, nothing was.   
Ax's channel surfing began to slow as he felt his eyes droop. It was getting late, perhaps he should be getting to sleep....but there was another Christmas special! Surely he could stay awake for that....

Ax looked out upon a comical wintery scene. A small town was nestled in a valley, where an assortment of small, rather odd looking people were singing. Two people caught his attention, one a tall boy who acted as a leader, the other boy acted almost as a bird, where he knew them from, he couldn't quite remember, his memory was clouded. On one side of the town was a large mountain with a cave where a girl who, also looked vaguely familiar, was staring down at the town. Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas alot. But the Grinch, who lived just above Who-ville, did NOT!   
The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, please don't ask why, no one quite knows the reason. It could be that her head wasn't screwed on quite right, > The girl pushed her head around, quite an unsettling sight, It could be, perhaps, that her shoes were too tight, > she snapped her slippers, But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been that her heart was two sizes too small.   
But, Whatever the reason, her heart or her shoes, she stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Whos.   
Staring down from her cave with a sour, Grinchy frown at the warm lighted windows below in their town. For she knew every Who down in Who-ville beneath was busy now, hanging a holly-who wreath. >   
"And they're hanging their stockings!" she snarled with a sneer. "Tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!" The Grinch, for that was surely who the girl was, growled and drummed her fingers. "I _must_ find a way to keep Christmas from coming! For, tomorrow, I know all the Who girls and boys will wake up bright and early. They'll rush for their toys! And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That's one thing I hate! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!   
"And they'll shriek squeaks and squeals racing 'round on their wheels. They'll dance with ting-tinglers tied to their heels. They'll blow their flu-flubers, and bang their tar-tinkers, they'll blow their who-who-bers and bang their gar-ginkers! They'll beat their tum-tookers and slam their slu-slunkers, they'll beat their blum-blookers and whack their who-whookers! And they'll play noisy games like zoo-zither-carzay, a roller skate type of lacrosse or croquet! Then they'll make ear-splitting noises deluxe, on their great big electro-who-cardio-flux!   
"Then the Whos, young and old, will sit down to a feast. And they'll feast! And they'll feast! And they'll FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! FEAST! They'll feast on Who-pudding, rare Who roast beast. Oh, roast beast is a feast I can't stand in the least!"   
"And then they'll do something I hate most of all. Every who down in Who-ville the tall and the small, will stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing. They'll stand hand in hand and the Whos will start singing!" As the Grinch had been saying all this, Ax's view had changed from just the Grinch to all she was saying, and now he was back to watching the Whos sing.   
"They'll sing! And they'll sing! And they'll SING! SING! SING! SING!"   
And the more the Grinch thought of the Who-Christmas-Sing, > Ax found himself saying, as he was the narrator of this tale, The more the Grinch thought, >   
"I must stop this whole thing! Why for fifty-three years I've put up with it now! I MUST stop Christmas from coming! ...But HOW?" The Grinch picked up her little bronze dog and threw him into a snow drift. The poor dog poked his head back out, snow sticking to his head and his chin like a hat and a beard.   
The Grinch noticed her dog's state. Then she got an idea! An awful idea! The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea! >   
"I know just what to do!" The Grinch Laughed in her throat as she picked up her dog. "I'll buy myself a new Santy Claus hat and a coat!"   
Suddenly, surrounding Ax as he looked into the Grinch's cave where the Grinch was on the phone ordering her clothes, a deep baritone voice starting singing. "You're a mean one, Mrs. Grinch!" If Ax had had a body, he was only watching this you must remember, he would have jumped at the sudden song.   
The Grinch chuckled, and clucked as her new coat was delivered, "What a great Grinchy trick! With this coat and this hat, I'll look just like Saint Nick!"   
"All I need is a reindeer..." The Grinch looked around once she was dressed in her outfit. She did look like the jolly elf with her long blond hair all tucked up in her hat and her blue eyes twinkling. But since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found, > Ax explained. Did that stop the old Grinch...? Ha! The Grinch simply said, > "If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!"   
So she called her dog, Max. Then she took some red thread, and she tied a big horn on top of his head. > Max, being the undersized dog he was, couldn't handle the weight of the horn. The Grinch sighed then set to work on cutting away excess horn so Max could be an almost convincing reindeer. He was still too small, but she'd have to take what she could get.   
Then she loaded some bags and some old empty sacks on a ramshackle sleigh and she whistled for Max.   
Ax watched, nearly laughing, as the comical little dog jumped up on the Grinch's sleigh, all ready for a ride. The Grinch glared at the dog, grabbed him by his collar, and hitched him up at the front of the sleigh.   
Then the Grinch said, "Giddyap!" And the sleigh started down toward the homes where the Whos lay a-snooze in their town, > Ax narrated. He watched as the large sleigh got enough momentum to carry itself down the hill, leaving poor Max to end up underneath, and finally sitting on the back of the sleigh. The Grinch saw him and yanked him back up front, she obviously enjoyed pulling the dog around. He watched as the sleigh nearly fell off the mountains several times, but was saved just before it began to plummet.   
Finally, the Grinch and Max reached the town. All their windows were dark. No one knew he was there. All the Whos were all dreaming sweet dreams without care. When he came to the first house in the square, > "This is stop number one," The old Grinchy Claus hissed, And she climbed to the roof, empty bags in her fist.   
Then she slid down the chimney. A rather tight pinch. But if Santa could do it, then so could the Grinch. She got stuck only once, for a moment or two. Then she stuck her head out of the fireplace flue, where the little Who stockings all hung in a row. >   
The Grinch grinned when she saw the stockings, designer ones at that! "These stockings are the first things to go!" One by one, she took ever stocking as Ax could only watch.   
Then she slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant, > Ax found himself saying, Around the whole room, and she took every present! Panplookers! Pantookers and drums! Checkerboards! Bistlethings! Pop corn and plums!   
And she stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly, stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney! >   
Once again, the rich baritone began to sing 'You're a Mean One, Mrs. Grinch' as the Grinch quietly crept around the room, stealing all the presents she could get her hands on and even the candy canes from the little Who girls and boys.   
Once the song was over, Ax re-started his narration. Then she slunk to the icebox. She took the Whos' feast! She took the Who-pudding! She took the _roast beast_! She cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash. Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash! > Ax had no idea what all these were, but as he watched the Grinch took them all from the Who's refrigerator.   
Then she stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee. The Grinch grinned her evil grin. "And NOW! I will stuff up the tree!"   
And the Grinch grabbed the tree, and she started to shove when she heard a small sound like the coo of a dove. She turned around fast, and she saw a small Who! Little Cassy-Lou Who, who was not more than two. >   
The dark colored Who-girl stared at the Grinch and said calmly, almost too calmly, "Santy Claus, why? Why are you taking our Christmas tree? Why?"   
But, you know, > Ax commented, That old Grinch was so smart and so slick, she thought up a lie, and she thought it up quick! >   
"Why, my sweet little tot," the fake Santy Claus lied, "There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side. So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear. I'll fix it up there. Then I'll bring it back here."   
And her fib fooled the child, > Ax said sadly. Then she patted her head and she got her a drink and she sent her to bed. And when Cassy-Lou Who was in bed with her cup, the Grinch went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!   
Then the last thing she took was the log for their fire. Then she went up the chimney herself, the old liar. On their walls she left nothing but hooks, and some wire.   
And the one speck of food that she left in the house was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse. Then she did the same thing to the other Whos' houses, leaving crumbs much too small for the other Whos'   
mouses! > And, for hopefully the last time, the Grinch's theme song started, stating that three words that best described her were stink, stank and stunk, which Ax thought was an accurate description at the moment.   
The sky was beginning to lighten when Ax was aloud to narrate again. It was a quarter of dawn, all the Whos, still a-bed, all the Whos, still a-snooze, when she packed up her sled, packed it up with their presents! The ribbons! The wrappings! Their snoof and their fuzzle, their tringlers and trappings! > Once the sleigh was loaded, the Grinch got out her whip and cracked it in Max's direction, causing the dog to struggle with the sleigh's immense weight.   
Ten thousand feet up! > Ax explained. Up the side of Mount Crumpet, she rode to the tiptop to dump it! >   
"Pooh-pooh to the Whos!" she was grinchly humming. "They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming! They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do! Their mouths will hang open a minute or two, then all the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO! That's a noise that I simply must hear!"   
So she paused. And the Grinch put a hand to her ear. And she did hear a sound rising over the snow. It started in low. Then it started to grow... > Ax's attention was turned from the Grinch and Max, who was now hanging precariously over the snow, back to Who-ville, where all the Who's were gathered in the center, around where their Christmas tree would have been if the Grinch hadn't interfered.   
But the sound wasn't sad. Why, this sound sounded glad! Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing! Without any presents at all! She hadn't stopped Christmas from coming! It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same! >   
And the Grinch, with her grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?" She grabbed Max and pulled him close to her face. "It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!"   
And she puzzled and puzzed 'till her puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something she hadn't before. >   
"Maybe Christmas," she thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" In the sheer joy of that realization, the Grinch let go of Max, causing the sleigh to overbalance itself, very nearly falling off the mountain. The Grinch's face froze in horror before she managed to climb through the snow and grab Max. And what happened then...? > Ax wondered, Well...in Who-ville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day! And then the true meaning of Christmas came through and the Grinch found the strength of ten Grinches! > Just in time, the Grinch lifted the sleigh out of danger, and above her head! Plus two! >   
The Grinch and Max jumped back onto the sleigh, the Grinch from once not moving away from her dog. And now that her heart didn't feel quite so tight, she whizzed with her load through the bright morning light.   
With a smile in her soul she descended Mount Crumpet, cheerily blowing Who Who! on her trumpet. She rode into Who-ville, she brought back their toys! > Ax watched happily as the Grinch and Max handed out toys. She brought back the floof to the Who girls and boys! She brought back their snoof and their tringlers and fuzzles, brought back their panthers, their dafflers, their wuzzles. She brought everything back, all the food for the feast. > Quite suddenly, everyone was inside, sitting around for Christmas dinner. And she, she herself, the Grinch, carved the roast beast.... >   
  
Ax? Yo, Ax-man, wake up! >   
Ax opened his eyes, startled and shivering. Tobias? >   
Dude, how could you sleep through the blizzard we had? >   
Ax looked around and noticed that he and the entire woods was covered in a thick blanket of white. I was...dreaming. >   
About what? >   
I'm...I'm not quite sure. But I do believe that you were there. And the others, too. It was...quite unsettling. > He then looked around, and noticed a small pine tree near by was now covered in decorations, and underneath it sat many packages wrapped in multi-colored paper. What is that? >   
Oh, that's your Christmas tree. >   
"Yeah, merry Christmas, Ax!" Rachel stepped through the trees and Ax's dream suddenly came back to him. The Grinch...the one with the long blond hair.... Soon the rest of the Animorphs had stepped into Ax's modest scoop, and he recognized others from his dream. Max, little Cindy-Lou Who (who was no more than two), the Who he had recognized...they were all there!   
Is this not a family holiday, though? > Ax questioned once everyone had gathered.   
"Yeah, it is," Marco said. "And Dad nearly had a fit when I told him I had to go out. You know, wanting to spend Christmas as a family, especially with Nora," he pretended to gag slightly, a sound that sounded almost dog-like to Ax's ears, "But I convinced him to let me out for an hour, so can we get this gift exchange under way?"   
Oh, quit complaining, Marco, and go look under the tree for your presents, > Tobias chided. Marco did so, followed by the rest of the human Animorphs, all grabbing an assortment of gifts from under the tree.   
"Tobias, Ax, there're presents for you, too, under there," Rachel said when she noticed neither had made a move for the tree. It was understandable in Tobias' case, but Ax was usually so curious he'd have been the first up there.   
But I did not buy anything for you, > Ax protested, having seen enough Christmas Specials to know the traditional exchanging of gifts went both ways.   
Neither did I, > Tobias said sheepishly.   
"We don't care," Cassie said. "Christmas is more about what you give than what you receive." With that in mind, Ax got the four gifts labeled for him and set them in his scoop, while Tobias morphed human and borrowed some of Ax's blankets so he wouldn't freeze while opening his gifts.   
The next few minutes went by in a flurry of wrapping paper strewn around the scoop and cries of delight (or annoyance every time a present from Marco was opened as he bought gag gifts) as presents were opened. Ax received a gift certificate to the Cinnabon, a book on television trivia, a book of idioms so he could better understand slang and...a book. By a certain doctor who wrote about a certain green guy who didn't like Christmas all that much. That gift was from Rachel, who had no doubt been told by Tobias about Ax watching the movie. The book wasn't new, it was ragged and faded, obviously it had been read many times. Perhaps it had been one of her sisters', but Ax liked it anyway. It's the thought that counts, he thought to himself. It was a phrase he'd heard on TV many times, and he'd grown to like it.   
Once the presents had all been opened the Animorphs sat around and talked for awhile, enjoying their holiday from being super heroes and just being kids on Christmas Break. But before long, it was time for the human Animorphs to go.   
Marco was the last one to gather up his gifts to leave. He turned to the group and said in a loud voice, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

_A/N: Hey, I didn't write a sappy/dark story!!! Yea me!!! And it was all about Ax...hm, I think the lack of snow here is getting to me! Anywho, quick little disclaimer, I do _**not**_ own 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'. That belongs to MGM. I just happened to think the idea of the Animorphs being characters in the wonderfulest Christmas movie of all time was a funny idea so you all will just have to live with it!_   
_As always, there's my thanks to Bob for putting up with my ranting and physical abuse as he was just trying to be a good beta reader/friend, you rock!!! And I'm gonna get pretty close to sappy here and give a shout out to my mom for helping with the rudimentary plot development. Okay, since I thanked you, Mom, you better be getting me everything I want for Christmas!!! ;-)_


End file.
